For all of President Trump’s success with white evangelicals, he has fared poorly with most black Protestant Christians.
But he sought to make changes this week when he invited multiple pastors of predominantly black congregations to the White House to discuss prison reform.
Despite the desires of those affiliated with the Trump administration who are focused on black voter outreach, there won’t be any significant changes to support for the president from the black community, based on historical voting patterns. How black Protestants vote overlaps significantly with black Americans in general, meaning Trump lost their support in 2016 and has continued to poll poorly with the groups.
Hillary Clinton, the 2016 Democratic presidential candidate, won nearly 90 percent of the black vote, according to exit polls. And in that year, nearly 7 in 10 black evangelicals identified with the Democratic Party, according to Public Religion Research Institute.
Bishop Paul S. Morton, founder of the Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship, an Atlanta-based network of predominantly black churches, appeared to address his dissatisfaction with Trump’s leadership after the meeting. He tweeted, “Devil is so slick 2invite a group of black preachers 2 a praise party 4 N unworthy underserving lying POTUS 2 divide the Body of Christ in trusting man instead of God God Please don’t allow the Very Elect 2b fooled by a man who is not concerned abt blacks or the poor but himself.’
With 13 percent of black Americans approving of Trump’s job performance, according to Gallup, it’s safe to say Scott’s view of the president is not common among black Americans. And, perhaps, given the historical influence of pastors in the black community, his words aimed to reverse that. But unless there are significant changes between now and the midterm elections in Trump’s approach to leadership — particularly when it comes to issues affecting black Americans, that view will probably lead to black Americans voting against candidates hoping to expand Trump’s vision of making America great.
Having pastors of black churches, who most black Americans had never heard of before they joined the Trump campaign, support a president who most black Americans think is racist is not going to change black voters’ views of Trump. Aggressively speaking out against racism and implementing policies that aim to decrease gaps between how black and white people experience the United States is what is most likely to change black voters’ perspective of the man most Americans consider the most divisive president in modern history.